Is it a color that rolls in and out?
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Cardinal?
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Yep
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100%. Honestly, it is just about as relevant as whether the random tour guide that you got on a given day was funny or not.
Other crucial factors closely considered by child no. 1:
-ratio of conifers to hardwoods on central campus
-appealing-ness (or not) of mascot
-whether anyone from high school had, or was likely to, go there (the desired answer was no). Bonus points if guidance counselor didn’t know about the school (admittedly, a very low bar, sadly).
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When my D15 was applying to schools my 7th grader insisted on making a list of his own. It was based on colors, mascots and it had to have a planetarium! 
The school he now attends was on that list.
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I mean, that’s a pretty solid set of criteria . . . .
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I agree that many times there is no “right or wrong” way to choose something. The only question is whether it yields a result that person will happily endorse.
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I will clarify that this child was considering playing a varsity sport, so would have had to wear brown every single day 
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I would likely rule out Lehigh on the colors too. We haven’t had the chance to visit but I think my child might end up ruling it out once she see how hilly it is.
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I know what the poster was trying to say (that Denison was more pre-professional perhaps than Kenyon), but the way it was always explained to me is that “the pursuit of knowledge” is something that pays dividends throughout one’s life. I’m certainly grateful for that training now that I’m retired!
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Babson in the 90s had steak and lobster every Friday. I foolishly ate a lot of cereal and bagels.
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My son spent his freshman year last year at Denison, and found all these things to be true. He opted not to play his sport in college, so he didn’t have the athletic community that is so central to Denison. The school is not just strangling Greek life, it’s strangling the social life in general. It was definitely not the right fit, I wish we had picked up on these things when we attended revisit day. He transferred out this year and has had a much better experience.
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I try not to be a cheerleader, but I have to comment on some of what is being said about Denison. My son just graduated last May. Although he is an athlete, he was very careful to avoid any schools that had any NARP culture at all and he was not interested in Greek life. He was looking for a diverse and welcoming school, and he was satisfied with his choice of Denison. His friends from Denison are all over the place - athletes and non-athletes, prep schools and public schools, Greek and non-Greek, pre-professional and wildly not so. I don’t think the school is trying to “strangle” Greek life, the big action there happened many years back when the frats were moved out of their houses and into regular student housing. There was a move made a few years ago to shift campus parties out of the senior apartments and into two new facilities the school constructed, and I don’t think that was a complete success, particularly as the new facilities opened just before COVID. That may be part of what @dramakid2 experienced, but things do seem to be sorting themselves out over time. In any event, no school is a perfect fit for everyone, but I just wouldn’t want these comments to put anyone off looking at Denison. Finally, I believe it is incorrect to characterize Denison as having a strong pre-professional bent. That would go against the whole philosophy of Adam Weinberg, Denison’s very gifted president, who has written extensively on the value of a true liberal arts education and implements those values in his work at the school.
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Wholeheartedly agree with @tkoparent. My athlete son graduated a few years before theirs, and had a similar experience – my son did not want a greek-heavy experience and wanted an accepting culture where he could continue to participate in his arts interests, and he found it at Denison. His sport was his biggest commitment outside class, but he was also involved in other organizations on campus and his friend group was mostly non-athletes.
As for the party life, greek life is non-residential so parties had historically been hosted in the most desirable senior apts (the “Sunnies”). Having hundreds of kids crammed into small spaces and hanging out in stairwells was not safe and the buildings were showing the years of wear so two major campus improvement decisions were made: to build adaptable, multi-purpose social space to get the parties out of the crowded senior spaces – the Moonies – and to build more senior apartments so that all seniors could live in an apartment if they chose to. The Moonies were finished just as Covid hit and students moved out March '20, so there was a sharp break between the “old” party scene and the “new” party scene when students returned to regular social life, and that is taking some adjustment. Completion of the new Eisner Center music and performing arts space has created more campus space for social life revolving around the arts as well.
In terms of “life of the mind vs. pre-professional,” Pres. Weinberg has emphasized the connection between traditional liberal arts education and the post-grad, adult experience. The idea is not that students have 3 1/2 years of college and then this sudden shift to “what the heck am I going to do next,” but rather a process of reflection about their post-grad life informed by their academic experience through programs at the Knowlton Career Development Center etc.
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I’m visiting my S23 at Purdue right now and he has yet to use any of his dining dollars! Initially he was worried he would use them all up so he wanted to get in the habit of eating in the dining halls. When I pointed out to him that he didn’t have much time left this semester, he conceded that maybe it would be ok to use them (and this was as we were talking about his plans for Thanksgiving break when the dining halls will be closed but he is staying on campus!).
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BU has lobster night.
possibly they both do, but I know for certain BU does (as well)?
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Sure, they probably both do. I know Northeastern does.
BU must have better PR than NE then, I have seen BUs on random boston social media a number of times (I am local). It was mentioned on the BU tour too 
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My son’s not in the dorms any more, so no more lobster night for him but I got him a gift card to Luke’s Lobster, which he enjoyed. We ate at Saltie Girl last month - they make a great lobster roll.
Didn’t think I’d said anything that would elicit such strong responses from the Denison crowd. I even managed to get two flagged responses! FWIW, my second note about Kenyon, while it came right after one comparing the student bodies of the two schools directly, wasn’t a one-to-one comparison - it also took into account the other two much larger schools they visited as well. Including a large public university with a very different set of mandates and different profile of applicant.
As ever, individual experiences when visiting schools are highly dependent on the format and the people involved (tour guides, info session panel members, etc.). Two separate people at Denison spoke at length about how tied to the Columbus business community the school is and how a lot of students intern with Wendy’s, Abercrombie, etc. That doesn’t mean it’s “pre-professional” to the point of there not being any intellectual curiosity on campus. Their tour guide at Kenyon talked about their favorite classes in a pretty obscure area of knowledge. That doesn’t mean everyone there just wants a life in academia.
These two schools have more in common than they are different. But those impressions do matter. The point in seeing them in person is to discern those small differences and determine whether or not they matter to the student in question. The entire point of these threads is to share those impressions. I’m not slamming any school here.
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